 It has occured to me how often both professional and lay people use Psychobabble as a quick analysis or explanation for something they actually are not sure of. Anyone who reads my perusings will be aware that I tackle what for me, is a pitfall I can trip into and by doing so, not only deceive myself into a place of importance I neither earn nor deserve by virtue of ignorance, but more importantly, I can actually bring harm to another, whether client, friend or stranger. So, how do we use psychobabble, and why, what effect does it have and how do we get out of the habit? One dictionary of large proportions, defines it as, " psychoanalytic jargon", ( have you noticed how dictionaries compel one to follow every definition to another to find out what all the words mean? ). Jargon, then, proceded to define itself as, " specialized or technical language of a profession; OR: hybrid language ; OR pidgeon, nonsensical, incoherent utterance; jibberish" Take your pick ! The usage I am speaking of, to be bluntly honest, would come more under the heading of jibberish, or nonsensical to the listener as we professionals, ( and sometimes lay folk) spout out grand sounding psychobabble words and phrases that bring as much enlightenment to the listener as jibberish. However, in our self-deception, we think we are defining it under psychoanalytic jargon and specialized langauge of our profession, do we not? The list of psychobabble words and phrases could fill a volume or two, so I will write about three of them and you can add your own that you, yourself use, or that you hear used, and examine as to whether said examples are in fact, psychobabble or truly applicable. 1. Dysfunctional. 2. Schizophrenic/Borderline./Manic-Depressive etc. 3.Multiple Personality ? - that's crazy. 1. Dysfunctional. How do we use it ? For example: Someone recounts how they hear the next door neighbors yelling and shouting at eachother, and the response comes back, " Sounds like you have a really dysfunctional family living there". Psychobabble: the cop out for giving general wild analyses for situations, individuals, circumstances and background about which we haven't a CLUE of the truth of the matter. By whose definition are we calling someone or something dysfunctional? What do we MEAN by dysfunctional ? Presumeably the word connotes that something or someone cannot function as they should by society's standards and is thus DYSfunctional - but it this true? Given that in the above example an adult woman is yelling at her elderly father does not necessarily evidence elder abuse, or any dysfunction at all, rather, that he is stone deaf and cannot hear anything without a voice raised to the level of shouting. His hearing is dysfunctional if we mean that it is not working to potential, but that's all. Why do we use it? This is a very simplistic illustration, but the point is, how easily and quickly we can blurt out words with a psychological or pseudopsychological meaning that might, in fact, be completely inaccurate but that gives us, as speakers, an air of authority and knowledge that is as false as the words we use. What effect does it have ? This, to me, is the crucial determinent of my examining myself about the topic in the first place. What effect does psychobabble have? It is my personal feeling and thinking that when I slap a psychobabble word on some one, something or some situation without thought or valditity, I am effectively tagging a label on. I HATE labels. So I nonchalantly say, " Sounds like you have some dysfunctional neighbors living by you". What an assumption. What arrogance, ignorance and total stupidity. Actually, I have done it ! Woe is me. But I am looking at my use of psychobabble and how I can harm others wittingly or unawarely. How can I break the habit? They say that the best way to break something, is to drop it - HARD. This is relatively easy if we are holding a crystal glass, but a habit of a solid mindset held for years is another matter. For me - the answer is, before I speak - asking myself certain things when I am quick to assert an opinion. Alas, for those of us who are impulsive! So before I say something : - Do I really KNOW this for a FACT ? - Is it true ? - Am I labeling ? - Why am I saying this? Every thought has to pass through the gateway of our mind and our lips. So it is good for me to visualize a large STOP sign in front of my mouth and as the word drives through the gate of my mind and pulls to a halt in my mouth, ask myself those 4 questions before allowing it through. 2. Schizopherenic/Borderline/Manic-Depressive. How do we use it ? Oh but don't we have a field day with this one ! Mental health professionals and lay people alike. And don't we spew it out as though these were the only diagnoses available to man ? a) example: A friend tells a friend that someone at work stares into space a lot, and appears to be hearing voices or communicating with an unseen entitiy. The friend comes back with " Bet they're Schiz and hearing voices" b) example: Someone confides in their mental health worker friend about their landlady who sure flies off the handle a lot, and can't seem to keep her relationship with her boyfriends for more than a few weeks." The reply is, " Sounds like she's Borderline to me". c) example: "Look at Jim. He's the Vet. Did a couple of tours in 'Nam. One minute he's laughing his head off and then he'll get moody and depressed, he's got to be Manic-Depressive". WRONG, in all cases. a) the workmate could be simply daydreaming and not necessairly hearing voices at all. They could have Multiple Personality Disorder and be hearing voices but internal, NOT external voices, or they could be having a psychotic episode from drug use or other causes. In fact, there are numerous other diagnoses that these symptoms fit, but how we jump to a one fits all , " Bet they're Schiz". b) Rages could be caused by a number of things, including drink, drugs, narcissistic fury, etc. with equal variety of reasons why steady relationships cannot be maintained, none the least being a history of sexual abuse, or a broken marriage from domestic violence., but we mental health professionals jump to the erroneous conclusion, " Aha, attatchment issues" and screech Bordeline, and the lay person will state Borderline because it is bandied about so often noone bothers to understand what Borderline is all about or that the sypmtoms could belong to something else. c) So Jim's laughing one minute and crying the next - or just plain moody!. True, he COULD be Manic-Depressive, but then he COULD be other things too, such as while he is laughing he hears a noise that triggers him into a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) reaction that spirals him down into war memories too difficult to share so he slumps into depression. So why pick on Bipolar ? Probabaly, again, because it is one of the psychobabble names most commonly bantered around. What effect does it have? These names/diagnoses are also the bane of folk who are DID ( Dissociative Identity Disorder, or Mulitple) because year after year, therapist after therapist, they are given these misdiagnoses, labeled and compartmentalized and in their distress and suffering are mismedicated, mistreated in therapy and untold harm is added to their already complex and deeply painful condition. How can I break the habit? For the lay person, it would be helpful to stop trying to diagnose an illness or condition with no education in psychology ( and I am not talking about reading one or two books from a bookstore or Library but having really studied Psychology as a major), because while it might sound rather knowledgeable to be able to say what a person might be suffering with, if it is not true, that person is forever labeled in the mind of others as being something they are not. For those of us filling out forms, should a person need care and coverage for other necessities besides therapy, with a wrong diagnosis, Insurance companies will not cover them, employers will not hire them and some hospitals will not accept them should any of these needs arise. Of course, when it comes to filling out forms, it is more than likely we have been treating a client for a while and so an erroneous diagnosis is not so prone to be made - but we can still, in social circles, be guilty of making off the cuff diagnoses without any true history taking or even knowing the person we are talking about. We need to look at our motives more and the reasons why we say what we do, and to whom and the payoff it gives us to present ourselves as authorities on matters psychological and then use psychobabble to emphasize this. 3. Multiple Personality ? - that's crazy How do we use it? example: " Did you hear that person over there is a Multiple. You know, like Sybil?" Response, " Mutiple Personality ? - thats' crazy" There has been an impressive influx of literature, movies, talk shows and documentaries on Multiplicity and DID since the days of Sybil, and the Three Faces of Eve. It is sad but true, but there has been as much false as true information, if not more so, when it comes to educating the public about DID via these media. The acceptance and understanding of DID by the general public, and particularly in the Mental Health Profession, has a LONG way to go before Multiple Personality is FULLY accepted as not being crazy, fabricated, attention-getting and unbelievably weird. How we use this inaccurate concept is based on being misinformed and on the misinformation that blithely continues a myth without regard to what it is doing. Why do we use it? It is in this lack of knowledge and understanding there lies the " why we use it", why Multiplicity is seen as crazy and those who are DID seen the same. It lies in man's intrinsic suspicion of what is unfamiliar, what feels foreign and strange to his safe, ordered and accepted way of living. The only way to cover our confusion, doubt and guilt of non-acceptance is to project our fear onto the multiple as their being "crazy". This is NOT true, and they struggle long and hard as it is fighting this question without those around ignorantly confirming their fear because of refusing to believe their stories and the wonderful, creative skills that have been used to survive. Psychobabble, the damage it can do. What effect does it have ? It drives the Multiple into a hell hole of isolation, despair and feeling of hopelessness, helplessness and self-doubt, the onus of which lies on OUR shoulders, not theirs. For every person who assigns " crazy" to one person with DID, labels thousands of others and sends them into hiding behind a facade of Society's perception of normality as they seek to hold jobs, keep home and family, or crawl into seclusion. Any one of which means walking the edge of life and death under the guise of life, because to present the truth to an unbelieiving public means death, often literally if not figuratively. How can I break the habit? One might ask, how does one accept something new that has not been encountered before ? How willing are we to search out answers, to be understanding, unbiased, open and honest in examining ourselves in the light of : Do I REALLY think Multiplicity is craziness, or am I balking at fears that lie within me that I am not willing to face ? Why do I not believe what I hear, attribute it to false memory syndrome, or make an excuse to deny the reality of the Mulitple? Does the severity of abuse that causes a mind to fragment to cope with it, raise in me a self-protective shield that in effect blinds me to the DID sufferer's truth because I refuse to look over or around that shield - because..... ? What is my honest answer ? Who is crazy here - the multiple who faces his/her abuse and trauma in the only way he/she knows to keep alive, or those of us who will not face why we have the reactions we do but seek to project our insecurities onto them? If we take a long hard and deep look at our own hearts and minds perhaps we can discover why we jump on the bandwagon of pointing a finger at another's " weirdness" when to point, as someone stated, means that three of our fingers point back at us ! If we are consciencious about self-examination we will admit to using psychobabble all too frequently and while I am self-examining my own contribution to this I hope any reader of my blurb will find it perhaps helpful to do the same. We can avoid the traps that so easily beset us and prevent hurting or harming others in the process. I need to add here that in this matter of self-examination I am speaking from a place of extreme vulnerablitiy, risk-taking and emotional, psychological challenge. It is FAR from easy to be strictly honest with oneself. We are prone to run miles when a hint of self-accusation raises immediate defensiveness, justification, excuses and rationalization for what we do, say and think. So in asking readers to join me in searching for answers within ourselves rather than in others, I do not do this lightly. I ask with a heartfelt desire to find ways to grow in a manner that opens us to not only better help others whatever their dilemmas, but to understand that we can ONLY help them in as far as we have helped/gone ourselves. If I stop at the brink of self-discovery I cannot help another. How can they discover insights about themselves if they see I have not dared to face my own fears, confusion, delusions and rigid mindset that hold me captive and limited? Ours is a helping profession. It starts with helping ourselves. Goessoftly Retired Therapist. www.goessoftlyishere.com (permission for reprints is required)  | LISTENING | RETRAUMATIZATION | PSYCHOBABBLE 1 | PSYCHOBABBLE 2A | PSYCHOBABBLE 2B | Did You Ever Push MY BUTTONS ! ! | Balance | THE INVISIBLE ONES | WEEDS | RECOGNIZING DISTRESS | COMMUNICATION | INTERVIEW (The lighter side) | INNOCUOUS INTERVIEW ? | The THERAPIST as RISK TAKER | TAINTED | CAN I TRUST YOU? | CAN I TRUST YOU? | CAN I TRUST YOU? | Me According to ME | | THE HEALING PROCESS | DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER | POETRY | Biographical Entries | THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE | STORIES FOR LITTLES (Pigmus and friends) | SEEDLING THOUGHTS TO WATER | | Return Home | Great Links | Sign/View Guestbook | |
||
